Tigers stun Chieftains, force decisive semifinal
IMPERIAL — The Imperial High baseball team refused to fold and fought to record a come-frombehind 4-3 victory over Clairemont on Tuesday afternoon to remain in the CIF-San Diego Section Div. III title hunt.
Despite being the No. 1 seed in this year’s Div. III tourney, the Tigers were playing the role of underdogs, having fallen to the No. 8 Chieftains, 2-0, one week ago in the first round of the playoffs. A loss to Clairemont on Tuesday would have ended the Tigers’ season, while the victory pushed both teams to a decisive semifinal contest set for 4 p.m. today at Imperial High’s McCarty Field. The winner will advance to Friday’s championship game at the University of San Diego.
On Tuesday, Imperial was down 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth when the team’s bats came alive to produce a four-run effort.
“That’s what I told the guys I was most proud of,” said Tiger head coach Javier Ramos. “We very easily could have folded when (Clairemont) scored that third run, but we worked to put together some quality at-bats and grinded it out.”
Similar to their first-round game, the Chieftains got on the board early and with strong defense kept Imperial off the base paths.
The visitors brought in an unearned run off a double in the top of the second, homered in the fourth and scored on a stolen base in the top of the sixth to make it 3-0 in their favor.
The dinger was also the first earned run given up by Kobby Lopez this season.
“You have to be able to compete,” said Ramos of Lopez, who tallied nine strikeouts in the game. “He was coming off three days’ rest, so we knew some of his velocity would be missing, but he didn’t fold. He toughed it out, and that’s all we can ask for.”
Lopez threw six innings, before turning the mound over to his twin brother, Chris, who earned the save.
Starting the rally in the sixth inning was Jakob Trujillo, who opened with an infield single.
Trujillo then moved over to second on a one-out single from Diego Mellos, before Ryan Bonillas singled, brought in Trujillo and advanced to second on the throw home.
Mellos was able to score from third on a wild pitch to bring the Tigers within one run of the Chieftains, while Alex Duarte kept the inning going with a walk.
Chris Lopez then connected for a sac-fly that brought in Bonillas on a close play at home to tie the game, while Christian Zamudio doubled to bring in Pedro Garin, who was pinch-running for Duarte.
The score ultimately decided the game as Chris closed the door on the Chieftains in the top of the seventh after retiring side in order.
“It’s definitely a great feeling when you win games like this,” Ramos said with a smile.